22 Crowned no. 1 chief rocka.

On Saturday afternoon I went over to my bro Rodi's house to pick something up and have a beer. It was the night he was to enter (semi reluctantly) the 'Red Bull Thr3e Style' DJ battle/comp. I asked him what he was going to do for it and he just shrugged his shoulders and said "just what ever feels right at the time"

It came 'the time'. Second to last set of the first round and he jumped up. We were right up the front and were yelling all sorts of stuff before he even jumped on. He started with Buddy Holly and I looked around and saw some of the old school battle DJs standing around with a staunch but nervous look on their faces, kinda like 'wtf is this'. Then he started going back to back and echoed it out to a strange silence from the best part of the crowd........... In came the drums of a song that was to be met with a seemingly even stranger silence from the crowd, USA 808 - She a boom (Israeli dance hall) until the hook came in which covers Wayne Smith's familiar under me sleng teng. The crowd had started to ease into the different sound that Scratch was bringing.
The rest of the first round was a bit of a blur. I do remember dancing, singing, shouting and at one point me and Mike booth took our shirts off and spun them around like a helicopter (the song told us to do this)

Then came the news that Rodi had won the Auckland regionals and was to battle Alphabethead in the final that night. Mike and I looked at each other like Mohammad Ali's manager looked at his trainer when Joe Frazier stepped up to be weighed in before the thriller in manila. This is going to be some shit if he is going to win.... Alphabethead is a long time friend of Rodi's and one of the craziest dudes out on the turntables. So much skill and a solid performer. It was hard to see how Rodi's just do what ever feels right could possibly take down Alphabetheads mighty battle routine which would be well rehearsed and well executed.

But, he did it. I am pretty biased in general but that shit was nicer to listen to, nicer to watch and was pretty much as good a club set as can be done.

10/10 for 22.

He is off to Paris and London for the finals and to play in some of the biggest clubs around and will only do what he always does I am sure. Kill shit.

Good shit to all the other dudes that entered esp Alphabethead who was very entertaining, skilled and original.

Below are some mixes you can download.

Scratch 22 THE ARC 2010 and beyond


Peeps Mixtape vol.1 by Scratch22


Paydirt and Scratch22 live at Cassette 9 july 2009 by DJ Paydirt

Scratch 22 & DJ Paydirt - Afternoon ARC x ABC Mix from THE ARC at Letsmix.com.

THE ARC PRESENTS CRUNK X PUNK from THE ARC at Letsmix.com.

Mickey Black & 420 Presents..Showcase

Playing at this on Saturday night with Team Dynamite, Nothing To Nobody, Spycc & INF & the home boy DJ PayDirt. If you didnt get your hands on a ticket its $10 on the door homeslice. See you then. Shot to Mickey Black for putting us on.

Churps.

ARC Community Projects Presents “The Circus Downtown”

Yo yo Aucklandites THE ARC Community Projects is back!

A couple of months ago we held a party at Rikka Sake bar in Victoria Park Markets. This was the first in a series of events we create and curate to help make our city better. Drawing on the talents of those around us, we transformed an abandoned restaurant in to something that felt like somewhere else for the night. It was a product of our creative community, no one taking anything away from each other, just building, no formula. You could say it was mixing rap and rock, or art and fashion, or all of these things but that would be missing the point. It was a manifestation of everything we've been working on since the beginning - our friends and their friends and our down town community. The marginalised were kings for a night. But don't let us throw our arms out patting ourselves on the back, things move quickly around here, people forget, and good. We don't want to rest on our laurels. We don't want to rest full stop.

Our second project is taking place tomorrow night (September 22) at Hitch Bar in Fort Lane. THE ARC Community Projects Presents: The Circus Downtown.


So welcome to The Circus Downtown. The name speaks of the people we work with - we're all performers, maybe to some we're just clowns, but we are bound together by something. We know we're not invited to fashion week, we don't mind. They won't mind if we do our thing, so we're going to do it up.

The line up for the party is epic - it goes like this.

Street Chant - winners of the Critics Choice Award (shout out to fellow community members Home Brew) these kids are so raw and real. They are likely to speak their minds at any time and fuck who doesn't like it. Their debut album Means has been on rotate at ARC HQ, welcome to the family. They are heading to CMJ soon so we're real excited to have them. I think they kind of have a problem with authority too, so we're all just kindred spirits.

Mellow Grave - Our homies Adrian and Birdy from 1995 might of accidentally smoked some dust and listened to some Gucci Mane freestyles cause their new project is just murder. Spaced out sizzurp beats with other world vocals and live percussion has made them big online. They just inked a deal with Sibling Sex Records NYC and to this date haven't played live yet. We got them playing on a pool table. Must see.

DJ Marek - our dirt dog from Welly, a hard drinking Polack like the ones from The Wire Season 2. He even plays that Baltimore shit. He has been running Wellington longer than John Key ever will and his Fried Chicken Sound System crew might be the best DJ force in NZ.

THE ARC - that's us, Scratch 22, Paydirt and Legal Money Mike. Making it happen.

Outside in the alley way is the real kicker though, for us. We have people like our boy Cookie and also the man himself, Chey Ataria from ABC Skateboards rolling around. We have a sketch artist that'll bust your picture out quicker than a sketchy party photgrapher ever could. Oh yeah, and just to make this seem more like a dream than a nightmare we have a classical string trio, as in violins, playing IN THE ALLEY!

So come along, get dizzy, get in to it. This a scene unfolding right now, right in the middle of fashion week, right in down town. A three ring circus. We will try for you Auckland City. You helped shape us and get us here, you introduced us to all these rad people we have.

Thank you. See you tomorrow night.

LEGAL MONEY MIKE

Via: http://www.realgroove.co.nz

The Peeps Mixtape Volume 1 Paydirt & Scratch 22

Peeps Mixtape vol.1 by Scratch22

Here is an old mix that me and Scratch did for our bro Tom Gould's photography magazine the Peep's. He is killing it over in NYC at the moment. Check out his blog here and buy a print.

SCRATCH22 and PAYDIRT ARCxABC an afternoon in Sandringham mix

Scratch 22 & DJ Paydirt - Afternoon ARC x ABC Mix from Scratch22 at Letsmix.com.

Day Three/Night